Sunday, 7 May 2017

This time we travel to the Beaufort Sea coast of Yukon, west of the McKenzie Delta, and then southwards inland. This is a Gwitch'in ethnic region, a native population living around the Porcupine River lowlands and mostly settled at the village of Old Crow.

Their name means "people of the lakes". Other smaller communities can be found at Fort Yukon, Fort McPherson and the NWT region's capital, Inuvik.

At the banks of Porcupine River, south of the Ivvavik and Vuntut Parks, Old Crow benefits from a pristine natural taiga surrounding.

Flatland taiga covers Porcupine River basin at northern Yukon.

Old Crow ('Teechik' in Gwich’in) is an inland community in Canada's Yukon Territory, in periglacial environment. The community is situated by the Porcupine River - tributary of the large Yukon River - in far north Yukon region. It's the only settlement there north of the Arctic Circle.

At over 67º North, Old Crow experiences a sub-arctic climate, which means long, cold winters, and a short but sunny summer.

The old mission cabin welcomes visitors, though amenities and accommodation are very limited.

Old Crow's main road, featuring the wide façade of the Community center.

Harvesting caribou is essential to the livelihood and the traditions of the Gwich’in people. Their main sources of livelihood are trapping, hunting and fishing. The Porcupine Caribou provides meat and skin for boots, moccasins, mitts, traditional outfits, and even decorative housewares.

A local's log cabin typically decorated with caribou antlers.

The old Mission cabin, now b&b, from 1935.

Old Crow School

The Health Center and Nursing station.

The Old Crow Health Centre was built in 1960 and later upgraded in 1985. This large building houses a clinic, offices for staff, a visitor's suite, storage space. It is staffed year round by two Nurses.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment.

The anglican church of St. Luke.

St. Luke’s Anglican Church was built in 1959 to replace the community’s original church. This log building echoes with memories from the past.

Renewable power station

A project of Solar Energy power has been implemented since 2014 by the local Vuntut government to decrease costs and reduce gas emissions.

Old Crow's thermal amplitude can be huge - a record of -61ºC in January to +36ºC in July. In winter, 12-14 days of full polar night happen in December, but over 3 months of midnight sun happen from May to August - that's when the Solar Energy system will be fully profitable.
What a climate show !

Old Crow's Community Center

The Community Center is where most things happen at Old Crow: traditional potlatches, dances, concerts, lectures, handcrafting, courses...

Inside the Community hall, photographs of community Elders, past and present, are hanging on the walls.

Gwich’in men are well known for their crafting of snowshoes, birchbark canoes, and the two-way sled. The women are renowned for their intricate and ornate beadwork. They also continue to make traditional caribou-skin clothing and porcupine quillwork embroidery.

Beading on slippers.

Hand made caribou skin boots.

Gwich'in embroidery, dog blanket.

Baby bag, porcupine embroidery

The only way to access the community is through the Old Crow airport.

"Air North" flights link Old Crow to Dawson City and Inuvik.

Ivvavik Park and the Porcupine River

Initially named "Northern Yukon National Park", Ivvavik Park was renamedin 1992. The park protects a portion of the calving grounds of the Porcupine Caribou herd and represents the Northern Yukon and Mackenzie Delta natural regions.

The Porcupine River (Ch’ôonjik in Gwich’in) is a 916-kilometre tributary of the Yukon River in Canada. It flows north through the community of Old Crow, crossing a taiga land covered by small and larger lakes.

Old Crow and the landing strip are visible up left, in one of the meanders of the Porcupine.

A landscape where plants and animals managed to survive in a land where Arctic and sub-Arctic meet.

Caribou crossing herd, Porcupine river.

Caribou hunter, Porcupine river.
The boreal taiga forest in the Parks and banks of the Porcupine is mostly above the arctic circle, as the tree line here is displaced to a higher latitude; spruces, birch, alder, larch and willow manage to survive in the cold. But the northern and coastal strip of Ivvavik Park is treeless arctic tundra.